Because exercise was associated with a modest improvement in depressive symptoms at 10 weeks, older people with poorly responsive depressive disorder should be encouraged to attend group exercise activities.

A double-blind cross-over trial of depot flupenthixol in recurrent manic depressive psychosis was carried out. All patients continued on lithium. Eleven patients completed the two-year trial. Flupenthixol appeared to have no prophylactic effect.

SYNOPSISErythrocyte Na–K ATPase and sodium pump site numbers were estimated in groups of depressed, manic and recovered patients. The activity of Na–K ATPase per pump site was lower in the depressed group than in the recovered group. In the manic group Na–K ATPase was lower than that of the recovered group, whereas there was no difference in the pump site numbers. In the more severe manics the activity of Na–K ATPase per pump site was significantly lower than that of the recovered patients. Therefore, the change occurring in the erythrocyte membrane cation carrier in manic-depressive psychosis is probably in the activity of individual Na–K ATPase molecules and not in the number of Na–K ATPase molecules per cell.

SUMMARYThirty-six female inpatients with a clinical diagnosis of senile dementia, Alzheimer type, were entered into a doubleblind withdrawal of their established thioridazine. Over a four-week period there were no significant differences between the two study groups in terms of cognitive function, behaviour or physical state. There was no evidence of a withdrawal phenomenon and the use of replacement medication was at a similar low level in the two groups. Although significant differences were not established in terms of side-effects, there was a trend for greater reduction of these for the group in whom treatment was stopped. These data indicated that careful, controlled withdrawal of established thioridazine treatment is a safe procedure which may be useful in circumstances where the contribution of medication is unclear.KEY wom-withdrawal, thioridazine, female inpatients, SDAT.

Structured physical and psychiatric assessments were performed on 100 elderly women with dementia admitted to either a geriatric or a geriatric psychiatry unit, and the relationship between physical and mental factors and the ability to transfer was investigated. There was an association between limited mobility and physical and psychiatric evidence of cerebrovascular and cardiac disease; but none between mobility and most measures of degree of dementia, vision, hearing, balance, cerebellar function, position sense, ankle reflexes, postural hypotension, locomotor disease, medication or ratings for depression, anxiety, irritability, hostility, lack of co-operation, suspiciousness, or distractibility. This suggests that in dementia the main cause of limited mobility is focal neurological damage.